The present disclosure is in the field of shooting sports. More particularly, the present disclosure is in the field of shooting moving targets.
There are many shooting sports that involve moving targets, including bird hunting, skeet, and trap. Shooting moving targets requires the shooter to lead the target for a proper hit. The proper target lead is dependent on many factors, including, but not limited to, initial target velocity, target direction, target range, initial shot velocity, and the ballistics of the shot and target. Shooters typically learn proper target lead through a process of trial and error. The input to this learning process after each shot is either a hit result or a miss result. Unfortunately, many beginners to skeet shooting are unable to hit a single target after dozens of shots. Receiving only miss results, the beginner is not able to begin a successful learning process. These frustrated beginners give up on the sport because they fail to establish a proper target lead.
On the other end of the experience spectrum, advanced shooters almost always receive hit results. These shooters have a difficult time improving further since they are not able to differentiate between center hits and moderately off-center hits.
There are a number of training aids that have been devised to help estimate the proper target lead. One type of aid is a physical modification to the sights that presents a fixed lead estimate to the shooter. This estimate is only valid under specific conditions, such as a controlled skeet launch and a specific shooting station. However, variations in the specific skeet launch can invalidate the assumptions used to set the estimated lead. Also, these aids do not provide additional feedback to the shooter after the shot.
Another type of training aid is tracer ammunition. Tracer ammunition makes the actual shot visible to the shooter. This gives the shooter some indication of the direction of a miss, but there are also ambiguous indications. For instance, a miss can first present the shot in front of the target. A fraction of a second later, the shot can be presented behind the target. This ambiguity makes it difficult for the shooter to determine if they had too much or too little lead.
Video analysis is another method to provide post-shot feedback to the shooter. This type of feedback is similar to using tracer ammunition, except that the feedback can be slowed down and analyzed repeatedly. Video collected before and after the shot is examined by the shooter to recreate the experience of the shot for the shooter. Unfortunately, video analysis suffers from the same ambiguity. Further, the feedback received through video analysis still requires the use of trial and error to determine the proper lead.